Milwaukee's Zilber Ltd. develops neighborhoods as well as buildings

Vim & Vigor apartments is among the projects under construction at The Brewery. Zilber Ltd. is master developer of The Brewery, which is transforming the former Pabst brewery into housing, hotels, offices and other new uses.(Photo: Tom Daykin / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

It isn't just Zilber Ltd.'s involvement with a charitable foundation, named for the company's founder, that underscores its community-supporting activities.

The Milwaukee-based real estate development firm also has played the lead role in the decade-long transformation of downtown's former Pabst brewery complex from dilapidated, empty buildings into apartments, offices, hotels and other new uses — including two small parks.

For that work and much more, Zilber Ltd. has been named winner of the Wisconsin 75 Distinguished Performer-Community award for 2017. The award recognizes a company's efforts or business choices that focus on giving back to the community.

That initiative has given $46 million to central city neighborhoods, focusing on Lindsay Heights, on Milwaukee's north side, and Clarke Square and Layton Boulevard West, on the south side, said Erin Frederick, foundation senior program officer.

That has helped leverage $70 million, including in-kind donations, of additional giving from other sources, Frederick said.

The initiative focuses on improving the quality of life for those neighborhood residents — supporting homeless shelters, after-school programs for children, residential drug and alcohol treatment centers, and healthy food markets, for instance.

Other programs include working with residents of Milwaukee's Amani neighborhood, on the city's north side, said Susan Lloyd, foundation executive director.

There's also Zilber Gives Back, a program that supports Zilber Ltd. employees who work with charitable causes. Among them: President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Borris, who has played a leadership role in raising money for the United Performing Arts Fund.

The company also has overseen the redevelopment of the former Pabst brewery, which was both a business venture and a community project.

Joseph Zilber in 2006 bought the former Pabst complex and hired Zilber Property Group, part of Zilber Ltd., to manage its redevelopment.

The mixed-use project, which covers 21 acres on downtown's northwest corner, is now known as The Brewery.

While Zilber excelled at making a profit on various developments during his long career, The Brewery was less about making money and more about building a community, Borris said.

"The Brewery was something Joe definitely wanted to be part of his legacy, and part of his gift to the city of Milwaukee," Borris said. "It was an area needing a lot of attention. Joe wanted to revitalize that."

The former Pabst site is in the final phase of its conversion to new uses, with most of its buildings and lots sold to other developers.

When completed in 2019, The Brewery will include nearly 800 apartments, around 130,000 square feet of office space, two craft breweries and two hotels. A film industry incubator also is the works.

The Brewery also features the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health. Joseph Zilber provided a $10 million gift to help pay for the $12.25 million project, which redeveloped and expanded a former brewery building.

Both operations together generated around $217 million in revenue in Zilber Ltd.'s latest fiscal year, Borris said.

Zilber Ltd. has about 285 employees nationwide, with 125 based in Milwaukee, he said.

The company's headquarters are at the Empire Building, a 13-story office building at 710 N. Plankinton Ave. that is best known for including the Riverside Theater, 116 W. Wisconsin Ave.

The company was founded in 1949 by Zilber, who grew up in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood, and got its start by building thousands of starter homes in Milwaukee. It expanded that home-building business to Florida and other states in the 1970s.

Meanwhile, the company also bought office buildings, hotels and other commercial buildings in the Milwaukee area. Many of those properties have since been sold.

In recent years, Zilber Property Group has mainly been developing light industrial buildings, including newer developments in Kenosha, Pleasant Prairie, Sturtevant, Mount Pleasant, Franklin, New Berlin and Menomonee Falls.

The company also is pursuing a large mixed-use development, with 180 apartments and commercial buildings, in Franklin.